Off the wire
• Heavy smog to hit Beijing, neighboring regions  • Violence against woman by Zambian ruling party youths sparks outrage  • Chinese customs seize 705 kg of banned stimulant  • Chinese-American chef presents at all-star chef classic in Los Angeles  • Urgent: Car explosion in Berlin kills one  • Roundup: AlphaGo defeats Lee Sedol 4-1 in historic Go match  • 1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares stage mixed performance, trading thin  • Backgrounder: Facts and figures about war-torn Syria's past five years  • Commentary: Time to address the politicizing of human rights  • 1st LD Writethru: Al-Shabaab captures key town in northern Somalia  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Russia begins withdrawal of military equipment from Syria

Xinhua, March 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russia has begun to remove military equipment from Syria as President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered a withdrawal of Russian armed forces from Syria, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

"The technical staff of the (Hmeimim) air base has started preparing aircraft for long-range flights to airfields in the Russian Federation. The personnel are loading equipment and other inventory into transport aircraft," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia started an air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, 2015 at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

During the nearly six-month air campaign, Russian aircraft deployed in Syria flew more than 9,000 sorties, destroyed more than 200 oil production and fuel transfer facilities, and more than 2,000 means of petroleum products delivery, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday.

A cease-fire between Assad's forces and his opponents in the country introduced on Feb. 27 has largely held, and negotiations aimed to facilitate a political transition in Syria were continuing in Geneva, Switzerland.

This made Putin, who is also commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, come to a conclusion that the objective set in Syria had been generally fulfilled, according to the Kremlin.

After the withdrawal, the Hmeimim air base and the naval base of Tartus will keep functioning as before, Putin said.

"This part of our military group will continue fulfilling the highly important function of monitoring the cease-fire and creating conditions for the peace process," said Putin. Endi